A pair of immediate moves are set to be completed in a matter of days.
Nick Cotric's future at the Canterbury Bulldogs has been under a cloud for some time, and it would appear the outside back could be on his way back to Canberra.
It has been reported that his agent, Sam Ayoub, has already met with the Raiders about a potential homecoming, and the club are more than keen on the idea.
That hardly comes as a surprise given their lack of depth in the outside backs, relying on the injury-prone Jarrod Croker and a handful of youngsters to fill their centre positions, while Jordan Rapana is the only winger who is untouchable in the starting 13.
With Cotric moving to Canberra, that would see the club be likely to let go of Bailey Simonsson, who the Parramatta Eels are keen on.
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It had been reported he is keen on a move to Sydney to be closer to family, and the Eels are also desperate for an outside back.
Channel 7s Michelle Bishop told SEN Radio that the Wests Tigers were aiming to throw a cat amongst the pigeons by paying full fare for Cotric, but the Raiders are "front runners" for his services.
โThe Wests Tigers have indicated theyโd be keen to sign Nick Cotric, they met with him last week,โ Bishop said.
โThe Raiders arenโt out of the equation yet, I think theyโre still the front runners at the moment. I still think Nick Cotric will return to the Raiders for 2022."
It's understood the Raiders and Bulldogs are attempting to work out a financial deal to secure Cotric's move back to Canberra, with the Bulldogs desperate to shake some of Cotric's large salary off their cap.
Bishop said the Eels are holding things up just at the moment, with Simonsson's move likely needing to be secured before Cotric can be signed by the Green Machine.
โParramatta are holding things up here, they tabled an offer last week to retain Junior Paulo, thatโs a bit of a wait and see," Bishop said.
โBut, theyโre also in the market for the Raiders' Bailey Simonsson, they need him to replace Blake Ferguson.โ
Still, with the moves likely to favour all three clubs, it's understood the deals could be completed in the coming days with players fronting up at pre-season for their new clubs before Christmas.
